2000 tahoe frontend questions

[bigbadchev84]

This is my first run in with lifted ifs problems.

We have a 2000 tahoe, new body style with a 6" fabtech lift and 285/75/16 bfg m/ts on 16x10 rims.

Just recently The wife told me it has been riding different. I took it in and had the tires balanced, twice. They said everything checks out.

It feels like a tire slightly out of balance.

I havent crawled under it yet to check things out yet, But what should I look for specifically? I have heard horror stories about lifted IFS chevy trucks.

 

[Babaganoosh]

Hubs and tie rods would be my first check to do, thats easy to do with a tire wiggle by hand.

 

[extremetahoe]

Get a plasma cutter and go to town.. Then put in a SAS... the chevy IFS is the worst thing chevy ever did... To many moving parts.. as said above check tie rods.( on both sides of steering pitman arms, b/c you have two) Check rod ends connecting to knuckles. Check ball joints, hubs and most of all what gave way on mine was the offroad shop that I took mine to to have a front end alignment done set everything back to stock settings on a six inch lift.. Common sense did not prevail.. The stress caused the support eyelet on the top of the diffential housing it self to break off....
Most of all look at and put a wrench on every bolt on the suspension... Oh and be sure to look at the caster/camber shims on the tops of your a arms to ensure the bolts aren't loose. Hope this helps... I'd definately look into selling the IFS lift, and all IFS components and buy a bolt on SAS kit... If you can't tell I really dispise the chevy IFS... Good luck man. If you need anything else let me know.

 

[sled_dog]

I am with Extremetahoe. Check for loose hubs and tie rod ends first. Those are common on the normal pickups, let alone lifted with bigger tires. Then check over for every bolt in the suspension. On a lifted IFS you should periodically check everything for tight anyway. Those lift brackets create leverage on bolts and normal bolt holes. So you have to keep them tight or it can be a mess. And Alignment is always a good idea.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

I'm with these guys. You opened a can of worms there.

Check to make sure all the lift brackets are in place. I used to know a guy with a lifted Tahoe that was constantly having alignment troubles until they figured out his ProComp lift kit's subframe pieces were jiggling loose and moving around on him. Whoopsie. They welded them together and the problems stopped immediately (well, the alignment issues).

 

[bigbadchev84]

Ok I crawled up under there today and there was some excessive play in these joints. I believe there the tie rods? It looks like a 1 piece deal though. I can move the passenger side tire a good 1-2" side to side with it jacked up and the drivers tire on the ground. Its loose at the joint circled in the first picture on the passenger side and loose in the joints on both the passenger and drivers side in the second picture circled.

Also the front diff is leaking. Any write ups on how to re-seal?

 

[noJeepshere]

285/75/16 bfg m/ts on 16x10 rims.

This here is what caused the steering woes. I guarantee you the wide wheels have a deep offset to push the tires out, and that is putting extra leverage on the steering joints (tie rod in first pic, pitman arm in second) I had 17x9's on my Yukon with a deep offset, and the steering wheel would bounce back and forth and wander fairly badly, until I got rid of them for Police Interceptor 17x7's (factory 17" for newer stuff) and the wobblies went away, but there is still something loose in the steering department from the effects of the offset wheels. Check your wheel bearings while you're at it, I bet they are wearing out too.

 

[bigbadchev84]

I was in a pinch for time and threw a new inner tie rod on there.(That was alot of fun at napa, I do alot of business there and know the owner good bunch of knowledgable guys there, I spent nearly 45minutes there trying to get my inner tie rod, they kept bringing the outer looking one. Finally he started all over and actually put the 5.3 in there like i told him 3 times instead of a 350. bam there was the part I was looking for, apparantly it makes all the difference. He felt bad and sold it to me for $30 instead of $52)

I got the old one out of there and it just flopped around. I drove it today and it was very obvious that the tire was toed in on the passenger side, Thankfully there is snow all over the roads. I think i got it bandaided until this weekend and I will put a new idler arm and pitman arm on it. Some of the vibration went away but is still noticeable. I will take it in for alignment after I get the new parts in there.

Wheel bearings seem fine, Jacked up the front end and wiggled tires, seem tight. It has had the lift, wheels, tires on it since 40k miles, no front end work done to it, just a new set of the same tires. It has 93k now.